


Duck

by up_the_tower_1001



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:01:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28502646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/up_the_tower_1001/pseuds/up_the_tower_1001
Summary: Damn it, it was his room too. And so he’d made a small square cubby from a plank of wood he got from woodshop and fit it into the bookshelf. Inside he’d placed, with care, a small wooden duck. Hand-carved. Not from Italy. Or Spain. From Maine, actually. Nurse can suck it.
Relationships: Derek "Nursey" Nurse/William "Dex" Poindexter
Comments: 7
Kudos: 82





	Duck

“You have a wooden duck on the shelf.”

“Yeah, I know. I put it there.”

“Why?”

“Because I like it.” Dex didn’t need to turn around to see all of Nursey’s decorations on the walls. Pictures that he got Jack to take, small handmade posters that were skillfully arranged above his desk. Drawing of his two dogs from home that some of his art friends had done. Above his bed, covers tossed around, warm and high quality (Dex knew from experience by now. He hadn’t even been aware that blankets _could_ be high quality), a small tapestry from Spain or Italy or something. It was probably handmade. Above Dex’s bed, covers tucked into the sides, there was the paint on the walls. Above Dex’s desk, there was the shadow that the window casts on him. A Samwell calendar to his right that he got during orientation and saved. He hadn’t put up the little cards and pictures that he’d acquired over the year and a half. They were too sparse, and it would only highlight the fact that he had nothing else. Not that he actively minded. 

But damn it, it was his room too. And so he’d made a small square cubby from a plank of wood he got from woodshop and fit it into the bookshelf. Inside he’d placed, with care, a small wooden duck. Hand-carved. Not from Italy. Or Spain. From Maine, actually. Nurse can suck it. 

“Okay. Is this supposed to be some sort of passive-aggressive message? Or is it a reference to The Mighty Ducks?”

“No. It’s my decoration. You put your stuff up, and the shelf isn’t being used.”

Behind him, he heard Nursey stand, and before he really realized what he was doing, he had Nursey's extended arm in a grip a touch too hard. He loosened it. “No touchy,” he growled. 

Nursey’s eyes widened a fraction. “Is it delicate? Cause if it is, I don’t know if that’s the best place for it.”

Dex studied Nursey studying the duck. And smiled. “I like it there. Right for everyone to see.”

“Dude. Were you ten when you carved this? And did you paint it or just color it with a sharpie?”

He laughed. “It’s my pride and joy.”

Nursery gasped. “I thought I was your pride and joy?”

Dex dropped Nursey’s arm and turned away. “It stays. If I catch you messing with it, you die.”

“Wow. We’ve been doing so well, and one wooden duck walks in and now I’m getting death threats.”

“Technically,” Dex murmured, as he reached for his headphones, “it waddles.”

He didn’t hear Nursey’s response. 

Dex didn’t mean for the Duck to become coveted. But as soon as Nursey found out that he wasn’t allowed to touch, he would catch the boy staring at it with green eyes wide and starry. Sometimes, his fingers would twitch on his thigh. “I’m starting to worry you want to do more to Duck than just hold him.”

Nursey jumped out of his skin and proceeded to smooth the hair on the side of his head which was shaved close. Dex followed his hands with his eyes, something rumbling nicely at watching Nursey so ruffled. “You wish,” he said lamely. Dex smiled. 

“Paws off.” 

Derek got up and swaggered towards the Duck, hips thrust outward and a leer on his face. He stuck his bottom lip out like he was sucking dip. “Duck wants me, Dex. Wants me bad. Hell, look what it’s wearing!”

“You _cannot_ make those jokes around Duck!” 

Nursey spun with his hands on his hips. Raised an eyebrow at Dex, lip still protruding in an impressive commitment to character. He looked Dex over and gave a leering smirk. “Fine. If Duck is off-limits, I do love me a pretty redhead.”

Dex shot up from the bed like he’d been electrocuted. That was not what he was expecting Derek to say. To call him pretty, even as a joke. He could feel the heat on his skin and had to turn away before he evaporated Nursey through sheer embarrassment. He saw his jacket: a hand-me-down from Nurse that he was unwilling to accept but became the most worn item in his closet when the winter got colder. It was black, so exactly his style, and warmer than anything else he owned. It used to frustrate him to have to wear it. Now, it just kept him cozy. He grabbed it and thrust his arms in. “Let's go get some food. Enough of whatever that was. 

Derek smiled and grabbed his coat and a beanie that made his hair stick out in the most charming manner. It was a perfectly calculated messy look, and Dex rolled his eyes at himself because he still found it effective in its charmingness. “Been waiting for you to ask. Let’s feast! Or should I say, Chow!” 

They grabbed Chris on the way and ran to the cafeteria. Second dinner was generally frowned upon, but with the team, it was a given. Dex had spent too many hungry nights with no other choice but to ignore it. The food here was free for the taking. Might as well get his money’s worth, and he’d be damned if he was going to spend another hungry sleep in his bed. 

Nursey was always willing to come, and Chowder liked to hang along for the ride. 

“Got you something,” Nursey crooned at Dex. Dex was immediately looking for Chowder to save him from whatever nonsense was about to go down, but the goalie was off chatting with one of the servers and who knows how long that conversation was going to last. 

“What?”

“No need to look so suspicious, Pointdexter.”

“You only call me that when you’re doing something suspicious.”

“Or when I’m cussing you out.”

“Or when I’m kicking your ass in Mario Cart.”

“Fuck, or that.” Nursey sat down and placed in front of him a sliver of strawberry cake. Dex blinked. It was pink and white with a little dollop of whipped cream at the top.

“What is this? Where did you get this?”

Nursey sat back like a fat cat after power chugging a gallon of cream. “They served it last night. We missed it because of evening practice. But I asked Carly to save me a slice because I’m her special little boy.”

Dex looked down at the piece of cake. There was only one. He hooked a finger over the lip of the paper plate and dragged it towards him. “This one’s my favorite,” he said quietly. Though, it was obvious that Nursey already knew. He frowned. This should not be that emotionally touching. Is this what it’s like to be Ransom and Holster? No. Nursey and Dex weren’t Ransom and Holster. They were Nursey and Dex, and Nursey saved him his favorite piece of cake. “My sister used to make it a lot. She liked it because we were all redheads, even though she wasn't really. To be honest, the caf's is better than her's.” He grinned at the confession, and Nursey matched it. “Thanks.”

Nursey waved it off in a hyperchill flick of the wrist. “Hey, no big deal.”

“You buttering me up to touch my duck?”

“Uh?” Chowder stood behind him with eyes nearly bursting from his head. “The duck isn’t a metaphor for anything? Right? Guys? You’re laughing but you aren’t answering.”

“The Haus is ALIIIIVE!'' screamed Shitty, back on campus to party. He arched his back and howled it up towards the ceiling which was currently struggling to stay up with the amount of people inside the house. Dex glanced worriedly at the exposed supports and decided they were most likely probably safe. Right. Their door had been locked. Nursey made sure of it. Dex double sure. And the Haus itself was extra shitty. Not many people came in with the intent of stealing something.

Dex glared at the cup. His body, tall as it was, broader as it was getting, was no match for the jostling of the hordes of people moving through the room, clapping him on the shoulder and giving him advice. He didn’t need advice from wasted assholes. He could make the shot himself, thank you very much. Bitty, to his side, watched like an Alvin and the Chipmunks character with his tony hands pressed together in front of his mouth and eyes half the size of his head. Dex smiled to himself at the thought that Bitty might actually be praying to let Dex hit a beer pong shot. 

Up and arching and release and through the lights and music and dust and spit. Behind the cups, Ransom and Lardo hip thrusting and making obscene gestures. Lardo might have been mooning him, but he wasn’t watching as the ball hit the edge of the cup and spiraled around the lip.

“Get it!” roared Lardo, trying to pull her black leather pants back on. Holster, off-balance from hip thrusting, hadn’t realized he was standing on slick ground and lunged for the ball but ended up slipping and windmilling his arms on the way down. The ball made a few more rounds before sliding coyly into the pool of beer at the bottom of the solo cup. 

Dex threw his arms out and tilted his head towards the sky. “Praise me.”

“Dex!!" Bitty jumped up on his back like a monkey and hooted, pumping his fist in the air. “Hat trick let’s gooooooo!” 

Lardo gave the obligatory handshake to Bitty. But when she got Dex’s hand in her tiny, steel grip, she didn’t let go. “How’s rooming with Derek?” She asked, her dark eyes narrowed into slits. Dex’s breath stuttered. 

“It’s. Fine?”

“Good, good, good. That’s _chill_. So, I’ve been hearing some cool stuff. That you put up some nice decorations. Duck-shaped decorations.”

“Lardo.”

“I’m just here because I’m your friend, and you’ve just beat me in beer pong, so congrats, you now formally have my respect. Dex. Nursey. He’s gone upstairs, and his eyes said mischief.”

“Lardo. You aren’t fucking with me just to get the table?”

Bitty popped his head between them. “A duck?

Lardo stared deeply into his eyes. “Dex. I swear to you. I would never.”

“Fuck. Bit’s, I gotta go.”

“Need a partner, Bitty?” Lardo asked.

Dex’s natural paranoia at all times was the only thing that kept him from sprinting through the Haus. He’s always been cautious of an oversized body and slipped through the crowd of grinding sweating dripping college students. He rounded the corner and there, stumbling up the stairs, was a mop of charmingly curled hair and sneaking shoes. “Nursey! Fucking! Nurse!” There was way too much shouting going on, and Dex might be embarrassed later to be part of it. But Nursey whipping his head around like a cartoon burglar was worth it. The people making out on the stairwell didn’t even look at him, and he didn’t look at them. He brought his thumb up to his neck, and Nursey’s lips parted in a small ‘o’ as he dragged it across his neck. 

He needed to stop drinking and he needed to stop hanging around all these drama people. They were changing him in ways he wasn’t sure he was comfortable with. 

Nursey, for his part, should have dropped his head and came back to Dex like a puppy caught making an accident on the carpet. Instead, a wild look came into his eyes, remarkably not chill and remarkably Nursey, and fuck, Dex started booking it then and Derek turned tail and took two stairs at a time, slipping and crashing into every single person in his way. “You fucker! Don’t touch my duck!”

Nursey was impressively fast at unlocking the door, and Dex just barely caught it before it slammed closed. “Don’t play with the door!” Nursey wailed breathlessly as he tried to shove it closed. 

“The fuck does that even mean?” Dex snarled and pressed harder. He might have been less drunk, or it might have been Nursey’s incoordination, but the door flew open into the room, and Dex slammed it and flipped the latch. 

And turned to see Nursey holding a tiny wooden duck with both of his hands. They cupped it carefully, and his pointer finger stroked over its little head, and Dex’s insides sort of just. Melted a little bit. 

Nurse looked up and his eyes were green and shining in the dim light, and Dex’s breath caught in his chest. Nurse smiled soft like feathers. “I like him,” he whispered. Dex approached slowly and Nursey sat down, cross-legged and leaning against the shelf. “Dex,” he whispered looking back up. Dex sat down across from him and didn’t meet his eyes. Instead, he watched the duck, green head and orange bill, between Derek’s impossible fingers. “Dex.”

“What?”

“You made him, didn’t you?”

He blinked a couple of times. Fuck it. If they were gonna do this, might as well do it right. He reached out and cupped Derek’s hands over the duck. Closed them around its rigid body. “Nah. Little brother. He carves.”

“What’s his name?”

“Charlie.”

“Charlie Dexter. Why don’t you ever talk about him? Or your sister? Or anyone. It’s always.” Nursey frowned as he searched for the right words. 

“I come from a complicated place, Nurse. A place that is not very Samwell. They wouldn’t fit in. I guess I just feel weird bringing them here.”

“Oh. But you fit here.” Dex just shrugged. 

“Sometimes.”

“No. Dex, everyone here cares about you, you know. We all love you.” 

“Yeah. I know.”

“William.” Dex knew that look.

“No. We are not doing this.” Nursey must have seen the tackle coming, and held out a finger while he put the little duck to the side. Dex hardly got a warning then before Nursey was launching himself into him. Dex had years of experience with tussling under his belt. He grew up with brothers and cousins and sometimes they were just messing around and other times they weren’t. He knew how to flip someone and wiggle away from a hold. But Nursey was big. All the Poindexters were lean and long. Nursey was long, but he bulked up in ways that Dex never could, and he knew how to use it. 

They rolled around for a little bit, breathless and energetic and elbows landed softly to not leave bruises on ribs. Eventually, Dex wiggled away from Nurse and started crawling towards the duck, as if it might shield him from another attack. But Nursey caught him and pinned him down on his stomach.

By the back of the neck.

Dex froze. Every muscle in his body went rigid. His lungs held a half breath in. His lands lay flat on the ground. 

Nursey, breathing hard above him, stilled as well. And Dex’s eyes flickered closed at the heat of Nursey’s hand on the back of his neck. He felt his head drop and his forehead pressed into the ground. 

“You alright?” they were back to whispering.

“Yep,” he rasped. And god, his voice. Even to his own ears. 

Nursey didn’t let off, and Dex swallowed. His neck was on fire. Heat moved inside of him. He needed to say something, but then Nursey was swiping his thumb along the tendon behind his ear and Dex. Wow. He would definitely be embarrassed about this tomorrow. He was embarrassed about it now. Dex’s mouth parted and a sigh escaped his mouth before he knew he could even make a sound like that. Before he thought about maybe trying to stop it. 

“Nurse,” he mumbled, trying to open his eyes but not really succeeding. “My neck is. Um.” How to say this without being super weird. 

“Sensitive?” Nursey breathed. His thumb stilled. He shivered beneath his skin. 

“Yeah.”

Nurse stayed for half a beat longer, and the lingering is what Dex thought of when he pressed his knuckles between his eyes and came in the shower. The lingering. Imagining that Nursey wanted. More than just an innate curiosity of a drunken poet. Then the hand was gone and Dex let out a breath. It might have been a little shaky at the end.

“Is this something we aren't gonna talk about then?” Nursey mumbled, looking at his hands. Dex looked away. 

Cause yeah. Dex wasn’t exactly out and they lived together and maybe it was better just. To not. He pulled himself off the ground and walked over to his duck. Picked it up and lay it gently back in its spot. 

The party was still raging, and Dex wanted to be anywhere but here. Anywhere but with Nursey and the memory of his large palms cupping him by the scruff and holding him down. Fuck. But he couldn’t go back down to the party. “Yeah, I guess.” He ran a hand through his hair. Tried to look at Nursey and couldn’t. “Gonna go on a walk,” he mumbled. 

“It’s like midnight. Don’t. I can go.”

“No, you’re fine Nurse. We’re fine.”

“Are you sure?” It was something quiet and uncertain.

Dex didn’t find himself comforting Nurse very often. Too chill, too unbothered by everything. And Dex didn’t allow himself to be comforted by Nurse who didn’t allow himself to be comforted by Dex. But despite his general assholness, Dex grew up with siblings. And sometimes. Well. “Nurse.” He moved his feet but they actually weren’t moving, so he stayed stuck. Nursey looked up anyway. Worry splashed over his features like war paint. “It’s alright. We just got caught up in the moment for a second. Duck, he can do that sometimes.” He tried for a smile, and Nursey was kind enough to lend him one. Soft and tired and willing to accept Dex’s words. “I forgive you, by the way.” He looked around. He didn’t want to go outside in the freezing night air. “Let’s watch a movie? Unless you want to-” He gestured vaguely at the door. The party. 

Nursey shook his head. Visibly rolled off the stress. Or, rolled it somewhere else, not visible. “Nah. Let’s watch RoboCop.”

They didn’t watch RoboCop, but they tucked into themselves like they normally did, with Nursey’s broad hands away from Dex’s neck, holding the computer with some artsy movie Dex gave into watching, and it was all okay. And if Dex felt a little slimy from the words that came out of his mouth, he couldn’t do anything about that. Because the alternative would have made them both feel way worse. 

Written on an index card, line side, were the careful capital script letters Dex had tried and failed to make look good. _Happy Birthday Fucker_ in straight lines on top of straight lines. He looked at it for a long time before deciding that if he redid it, the entire point of the card would be lost. 

The present was wrapped in the school newspaper that no one read but everyone knew its contents. He stole some tape from the library and wrapped it as covertly as possible in case any stray snoopers saw him bent over with a wad full of crinkling paper and tape. He was a hands-on kind of guy, but apparently, that didn’t apply to wrapping presents that weren’t in rectangular boxes. He sighed at the outcome and shoved it into his backpack.

He’d looked for the right time to present it. It had only come in a day before and he hadn’t had time to wrap it any earlier than that afternoon. The morning would have been optimal, but he didn’t want to present it in his palm covered by a piece of tissue paper, so he waited with clammy hands. Worried if it would be construed as romantic and then decided that was stupid because Bitty baked him an entire cake and Bitty was openly gay and Nursey didn’t seem to think that Bitty was romantically attracted to him in the least. So he shoved the insecure fear down and away and then walked around with a little wrapped package all day. 

They’d eaten lunch together, but the rest of the team was also there, and they all sang happy birthday loud enough to get the rest of the calf to join in. Dex sang along too and jostled Nursey and didn't pull out the present. His classes stopped for no one, and he’d been unable to get away from work for the rest of the day. Until Chow and Nurse showed up with some pastries they probably bought but just shrugged when Dex asked where they were from. Dex mumbled thanks and ate them because he was hungry, even though it wasn’t his birthday and he wasn’t supposed to be the one receiving yummy treats without having to pay.

“Nurse, I got you something,” Chow stated, and Dex looked up. In his hand was a gift wrapped in shiny paper, carefully taped and creased. 

“Oh Chow, you shouldn’t have. Now give it here.” He snatched the present and tore into it with savagery. They all watched as Nursey’s grin softened and he thumbed the pages of the book. 

“You mentioned it a while ago. So, happy birthday Nursey.”

Nursey wiped his eyes. “You are too good to me.”

Dex’s pen was flicking hyperspeed in his hands and he had to put it down on the table before it shot out of his fingers and impaled an innocent bystander. He could pull it out. Probably should. Precedent had already been set, and Chow was here to make it extremely not weird. Extremely not romantic even though why would it even be romantic anyways, it’s not even a romantic present. 

“What is it?” he asked instead. 

Nurse passed it over. “Just a book of poems I liked a while back.”

“Oh, nice.” He barely looked at it and flipped it over a couple of times in his hands. It made sense. Nursey liked poetry. Why didn’t Dex just get him something he knew he liked? Chow had struck the perfect balance and fuck, Dex was being weird. His gift was weird. He handed it back and didn’t look at Nursey or Chow. He was acting cagey but couldn’t do anything about it. Maybe they’d just assume it was because he didn’t get Nursey anything because of money. His skin prickled at the thought. 

They walked back together in the quiet. The snow crunched under their feet and reflected the golden light of the buildings. Dex didn't look at Nursey. He already knew what he’d find. 

“Night Chow.”

“Good night Dex. Happy birthday, Nursey.”

“Yeah, man. Bring it in.”

Dex brushed his teeth and spat out blood. Fuck he needed to start flossing more. Changed into worn flannel bottoms and fiddled with his backpack. Packed a couple of things for tomorrow. Unpacked a couple of things from today. Just do it do it do it do it jesus fuck

“Might turn in then,” Nursey announced.

“Alright.” Fuck.

And now he’d waited too long and it was going to be weird. Nursey ambled towards the lights like a slow-moving bear. 

“Actually. Nurse, I erm.” Nursey was looking at him with his head cocked like a puppy. He was always so soft. Smooth to the touch and warm air cycloned around him. Not like Dex. Get over it. He pulled out the bundle and stuck his arm out. Made Nursey walk over to him and take it. 

“You got me something? Nice wrap job, Pointdexter.”

“Sorry.” 

Nursey grinned to let Dex know it was a joke and didn’t reassure him that it was fine. Instead, he untaped it, piece by piece, and let them float to the ground. Dex watched them in silence. 

For a second, neither of them said anything. “It’s a mouse,” Dex blurted out. 

“I can see that.”

“My, um. My brother carved it. For you. Well, for me, I asked him to. Anyways, sorry if it’s weird. I know it’s a little weird. You don’t have to.” Do what, exactly? What was Derek Nurse going to do with a wooden mouse, carved small and dark and simple? 

But he fell quiet again as Nursey turned it over in his hands. “Thank you, Will. I like it.” They both looked at it. Its ears were big and slightly misshapen, and it’s body rounded in a jagged curve. Charlie had gotten better since the duck, thank god. And this time it wasn’t painted. He’d included a few details like a tail pressed close up against the side of its body and two small, dark eyes. 

Dex shoved his hands under his arms. He should probably say something. But the words weren’t coming. They hardly ever did. Nursey passed him and moved Duck to the side. Placed Mouse there behind him. “Tell Charlie I said thank you?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” 

Nursey was touchy. He just was. But something must've stopped him from going for the hug, and Dex's shoulder’s sagged in relief. “Good night. And happy birthday, or whatever.”

“Or whatever,” Nursey snorted, and hit the lights. 

God this assignment was driving him mad. Mad. Mad like he understood why people murdered. Maybe he should drop out. If he couldn’t keep up his GPA, then he might have to. There was no way he could afford a school like Samewell. Not without his scholarship, and his advisor looked at his red hair and ratty jeans and made it very clear what was expected of Dex if he wanted to stay. 

His eye’s burned and his legs ached from their morning practice. Beside him, his bed was soft and light and warm. Temping. He should go to the library where he wouldn’t fall asleep. Couldn’t. Not in the open like that. But here, across the room from Nursey and right next to his bed, he didn’t need to be laying on a pillow to drift off. He scratched his arms a little too roughly and then smoothed over the skin. He was fine. He would figure it out.

Rolled his neck. Clicked his pen a couple times. Scrolled down the lines of code. Scrolled back up. Looked at the colors. He used to feel cool with the black screen and the language no one else understood. Now it just caused him anxiety. 

Okay, he could do this. Scrolled upwards and watched them all blur together. 

“Dude, you good?”

“Huh?”

“You’re like being super fidgety. More than normal.”

“Oh, really? My bad.” He smoothed down his right arm. Tucked it into his torso and his shoulder ached with the stiffness. 

He hardly noticed Nursey padding over to him all decked out in cloud sweaters and wool socks. He made a noise of pity by Dex’s head. “Looks hard,” he said.

“No shit.” Nursey was right by Dex’s ear and he hummed something low. His body, willing for any distraction, heated up at the proximity. This wasn’t doing wonders for his focus. He flexed his fingers. Maybe he should go to the library. Maybe he-

Nursey’s hands lay down on his shoulders, and Dex’s entire body went rigid. “Um?” He didn’t look around. Didn’t shake Nursey off or move at all. Just widened his eyes and held his breath because Nursey’s hands were on his shoulders. 

“I’m pretty good, if you want?”

Dex closed his eyes for a moment, but that made everything worse. “Like?” He literally couldn’t form the word if he wanted to, and Nursery wasn’t much better. Even with his hands on Dex. Just sitting there, nice and friendly and innocent. 

“Yeah. If you want?”

He tried to weigh his options. But there wasn’t much to weigh. Nursey’s hands were on him _now_ and that was it. “Okay,” he said cautiously. 

His thumbs rubbed small circles on this skin for a few seconds. Then they dug into his traps and he tried not to audibly gasp. Nursey’s hands were strong, of course they were, but it was one thing to twist his arm out of an iron grip and another thing to have his fingers working at his shoulder muscles. His neck tingled and he clenched his hands in an effort not to make it weird.

“Dude. Relax, Dex. This is supposed to be relaxing.” His voice was honey on warm bread.

“Okay,” he said again, stupidly, and didn’t relax. Every muscle in his back was fighting the firm roll of Nursey’s fingers. He tried to breathe. Tried to think about something else. Something like a warm cup of hot chocolate. Or like, Nursey behind him, giving him a massage. A massage from Nursey. So relaxing. Breath, Pointdexter, you’ve done more difficult things. Nurse’s hands moved outwards and he let out a sly breath. And then moved inwards, and Dex gasped through his nose because he couldn’t through his clenched jaw as Nurse swiped both his thumbs along the side of his neck. 

The intentionality. His skin caught on fire and he was sure that Nursey was watching the blush spread out and over pale skin. He tried to apologize, but nothing came out. Nursey didn't comment on his shoulders, now ratcheted up even tighter. If Nursey was trying to relax him, that was not the right thing to do. 

And then he did it again, and somehow, it was more unexpected from the first time. To pull a reaction out of Dex and then go for it a second round. His eyes did flutter closed then, and he gripped his knees. His chin dipped downwards, just a touch. To give Nursey permission? Better access? His thumbs stayed, just tracing up and down the side of his neck, and his stomach fluttered. 

“Nurse.” His voice came out a touch too breathy for his liking. Nurse didn’t stop though, and his brain scrambled to concentrate. “We’ve sorta been over this.” Nursey made a little humming around at the back of his throat. Some little sound that meant absolutely nothing. “Sensitive neck, remember?”

“Does it feel good?”

Dex curled his lips in. “Yes,” he whispered. 

“Good.” Nurse, evidently bolded by the admission, went higher now, to the base of his skull. Spread his fingers through his hair. Came back down and marked Dex with little trails of flames. His thighs stiffened and he consciously relaxed them. “And that?” murmured Nursey, going for it again before Dex answered. Asking just to hear him admit it.

“Yeah. It’s.” He cleared his throat because his voice was shot.

Calloused fingers thumbed their way behind his ear. Just a steak of warning before running along the shell and knocking the breath out of him. It was too much. Too much to pretend that it wasn’t driving him mad. He brought his forearms up to lean on the desk and his head dropped. 

“Easy,” rumbled Nursey, running his hands through his hair again, and Dex practically sobbed. He was dripping for it now. He could feel himself pressing against loose pants and was glad he wasn’t facing the open, though realistically, Nursey probably had an inkling of what he was doing. Derek ran a forefinger and thumb following the top arch of his ear before skimming his knuckles down to the underside of his jaw where the skin was thin and vulnerable and his pulse hammered.

“Nurse,” he mumbled. What exactly he was trying to communicate was beyond him. Possibly a warning. A plea to take pity on him. Simply a sound to make.

His knuckles didn’t stop though and tucked under his dropped chin to the front. He made a small sound, impossible to stop, from the back of his throat. Sort of an unattractive choked off moan. “Let me see,” murmured Nursey, and like a snake charmer hypnotizing his cobra, he lifted Dex’s chin with the slightest pressure under his jaw. Kept going and Dex’s heart was pounding in his chest at the sudden exposure. He blinked open his eyes as he fell back in slow motion. His shoulders hit the back of his chair and Nursey’s fingers still delicate against his chin, tipping his head back until he rested on Nursey’s stomach, looking up at him looking down. 

“Oh,” Nursey mused, and the contact was too much for Dex. What he looked like, he didn’t even want to know. Probably utterly destroyed just from a few well-placed skim of the fingers. He turned his face and Nursey took the time to skim over his windpipe. The other hand cupping the side of his neck between his shoulder started to descend to his collarbone. With his neck exposed and already raw, he had to grip the armrests not to flinch away from the touch of fingertips dancing along the bone, jutting out because he was all angles, all sharpness. And then the other hand started to descend to match and Nursed leaned in close. 

He kept his hands no lower than the top of his chest. Lips whispering up the side of his neck with no warning and Dex rolled his head even further away. “Fuck, Derek.” It was rough and not sexy or anything besides guttural. Nursey nipped his earlobe and the dampness of his lips made Dex’s dick twitch. “Can I touch you?” he murmured.

“Yes,” he muttered. 

“Can I kiss?” But his mouth was already making little wet spots on the tender skin. He covered his eyes with his hand, leaning over the armrest. Almost as if to get away. But every touch made his skin twist in pleasure. “Dex?”

“Yes, fuck. You need a sign or something?”

Nursey laughed a small puff out of his nose and then parted his lips and started sucking small, moist kisses down Dex’s neck, and to match, his hands traveled down over his chest, fingers splaying out to feel. Fingers pressed past his nipples and Dex flushed in embarrassment and arousal. His back bent in the whisper of an arch when Nursey attached his lips and pressed in with purpose. 

“Ah- Nurse,” he tried. “I bruise easily.”

“No marks?” he asked, easing up and bringing the slow drag of his hands down towards his vulnerable midsection. Down his ribs that used to be ticklish but now were just shooting jolts of sensation to his spine. 

“I-I don’t know. Maybe?” 

“Alright.” He pressed back down, gently this time, and bit down on the joint of his shoulder hard enough to make a definite mark. Kissed it.

“You ass,” he hissed. Eyes still covered and feeling dexterous fingers on his waistband before lifting his shirt and the skin-on-skin contact made his abs jumps. 

“God, Dex,” Nursey murmured, right behind his ear. Probably watching as he revealed a freckled torso. His skin, damp with a slight sweat, chilled in the air and was soothed by the hot slide of Nursey’s hands. 

And then Dex turned, in a moment of total lapse of thought beside how _good_ everything felt, and captured Nursey’s lips. This other opened up immediately, hands stilling for a moment. His lips were full and soft and somehow led the rhythm into a slow give and receive. He turned towards Nursey now, not away, and reached out to cup his neck, pulling him closer. Nurse took the opportunity to rake his fingers up Dex’s side, rucking up his shirt, and feel up his pec in a way that was masculine and sexual and nothing Dex had ever felt before. 

Nursey groaned into the kiss and Dex lapped him up. The angle was a little awkward with his legs still stuck between the legs of the small desk. Nurse had him twisted up and out. He pulled back to suggest moving when Nurse caught the bud between the sides of his fingers, rolling it, and his body lit up. Dex couldn’t help it. He gasped and pressed his forehead against Nursey’s. 

Nursey went in for another kiss, and Dex realized he was being outdone, the fucker. He was embarrassingly close and hadn’t even gotten a proper look at Nursey. He stood up and Nursey stumbled backward but caught himself on the bed frame next to them. His green eyes were blown, his lips wide and sweet, his hair perfectly, charmingly tossed, and a definite shadow in his pants. His eyes flickered over Dex and his brows furrowed a little bit. “Bed?” Dex managed.

“Oh. Yeah, bed is good. Bed is really good.”

Dex ran a hand through his hair to collect himself. His legs were shaky and he had to grip the edge o the desk to slide back the chair with his leg. He went to the edge and sat down. Nursey sat with him, legs on the bed, facing Dex. He rubbed his hand down around his neck and shivered at the memory.

“You alright?”

“Yeah. Sorry, I’m just.” He couldn’t look. 

And like a perfect gentleman, Derek took his hand. “We can go slow. Or stop. Whatever you want.”

Dex’s fingers twitched in the loose grip. He wasn’t used to having that line said to him. Normally it was the other way around. “What do you want?”

Nursey smiled. “You.”

“That’s like. Terrible.” Nursey’s smile only got wider. And Dex didn’t just feel the press of his dick against his pants. He felt happy. This was. Good. Better than anything he’d ever done. He looked at their hands. “I’ve never done this before. With a guy. I don’t know if I’m gonna be very good, so.”

Nursey sighed and draped himself over Dex. Maybe because he knew Dex would take anything Nursey had to offer. Always had. He decompressed under the weight on his shoulders. Nursey pressed a kiss on his temple. It was so casual, so like anything else they’d done, but it made Dex warm in spaces that had only held melancholy before. He ducked his head. “Dex, I’m so attracted to you it’s insane. You don’t know how you look. You really don’t. And. Fuck Dex, despite your best efforts, I like you.”

“Asshole.”

“Exactly. He snaked around and kissed his other temple. “There literally is nothing you can do to make this bad. Unless you, like, jizz in my eyeball or something. But even then, that seems like it would be my fault anyway. So. I guess, yeah, literally nothing.”

“What if you jizz in my eyeball?”

Nursey hummed long and low. “Is that something you’re into?”

He laughed and turned around. Rose up to meet Nursey, but the other pushed him onto his back and a breath escaped him. Nursey crawled over him, wicked and beautiful. “What do you want?” he asked into his neck, and Dex’s eyes were closed already in anticipation.

He squirmed a little. "You want me to, like, tell you?” His hands found their way under Nursey’s shirt, and fuck, he wished he could see. He ran his hands over rippling back muscles that were hot to the touch. Nursey reached overhead and pulled his shirt off with one hand. “Wow,” he swooned, mostly kidding, but some not. Nursey just smirked and tugged at the hem of Dex’s ratty old T. He sat up to pull it over his head and then Nursey was on him, mouth everywhere, hands everywhere. Every once and a while skimming up to Dex’s neck and doing things that had him twisting. 

“You’re so sensitive,” Nursey awed.

“Yeah, figured that out by- ah.” Nursey cut him off with a hand resting at the base of his throat, palm flush to the skin. Doing nothing but resting. 

Nurse sat up on one elbow. Watched as he raised it just a hair and Dex’s hips rolled up to meet Derek’s thigh. “You’ve got a kink,” Nursey marveled. 

“So does most of the planet. Get over it.”

“No, you’ve got an actual, real-life kink. God, you’re so hot.”

He tried to reply with something threatening but his brain got all caught up in the feeling of Derek’s thumb and forefinger resting against his pulse points, cupping the underside of his jaw. His breathing was heavy and whistled through his nose. 

“What do you want?” Nursey asked again. 

“I don’t.” He swallowed. “I don’t know.” He could think of some things. But Nursey just wanted him to say it out loud like a psycho? Then again, all it took was a hand on his throat to have him close to dry humping his leg. Maybe he was a psycho anyway. 

Nursey nuzzled in again, mouth trailing toward his chest. “Maybe I’ll do some things. You tell me if they feel good?”

“I’m pretty sure whatever you do is gonna feel good, Nurse.”

“I like the feedback,” he drawled, duking down to mouth at Dex’s nipple. It’s not like he hasn’t done, er, nipple play? But he’d only been with girls before, and it seemed like that might be more up their alley. Now, with Derek’s teeth skimming around the edge, he sighed back into the pillow and tried his best not to grind on him. Little jolts of pleasure shot down his stomach. And then Nursey had a hand on his dick through his sweats and Dex was arching upwards, making small little sounds that shouldn’t have been so easy to pull. 

“Fuck, Nurse.”

It wasn’t exactly feedback, but it must have been good enough. Curls moved lower, and Dex realized where he was going at the belly button. Kissed his stomach and Dex was helpless but to stare as broad, dark shoulders descend. “Derek. Derek.”

Nursey looked up, both hands resting easy on Dex’s hip. “Sorry, too much?”

“No. I don’t know. Just, give me a second.”

“Yeah, sure. Anything.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.” Nursey shimmied back up.

“I’m not normally.”

“Dex. It’s alright. Look at me.” He met Nursey’s eyes, and there was only kindness. Well, horniness too. It would be worrying if there weren’t. But kindness predominantly. “It’s alright, Will.” He didn't do anything so corny as kiss him on the cheek, but Will sagged anyways with the affirmation. 

“I really want you to do that. Trust me, I really do. But. It’s just a lot right now, you know?”

“Yeah, I totally get you.”

“Maybe.” He could feel his face redden and was honestly surprised he had enough blood in his system to blush. 

“What?”

“Maybe, like. I could be on top?”

Nuse hesitated. “That’s your grand proposition? Man, you are so vanilla,” he laughed, and Dex punched him in the arm. “Yes, please.”

They shuffled around a bit and then Nursey was looking up at him while he slotted one leg between his thighs. Felt the hardness there and they both sighed with it. Nursey pressed his hips upwards. “This better?”

“Um. Yeah, I think so,” he said, leaning into Nursey’s hands as they carded through his hair at the back of his head. He dipped down and Nursey tilted his head up, perfectly complicit. And this, he knew. This was easy. He worked along Derek’s throat, drawing out soft moans. Ran his hands along his ribs and insanely tone arms and got worked up at the sounds that Nursey was making. “Dex,” he breathed in his ear, and Dex shivered. Understood, now, enough to reach down to Nursey’s lower stomach. “Please.” 

He took an awkward second where they both watched Dex’s fingers work Derek’s belt and then he reached down into Derek’s boxer. Nurey gripped him by the back of the neck and they both panted. He was so hot in his hand. Made a couple of experimental strokes. Tried to go gentle. “You got anything?” he asked against Nursey’s neck.

“Just use spit. Not gonna last long.”

“Oh.” He wet his hand and reached back down and the noise Nursey made sent shockwaves through his body. Worked him for a minute before Nursey started really panting. 

“Dex, I’m. I’m close.”

“God, Nurse, please.” He felt Nursey’s hips snap up and he worked him through it, trying to catch it all in his other hand and largely unsuccessful. Nurse sunk back into the sheets and closed his eyes, looking blissed out in a way Dex had never seen. His eyelashes flickered in the evening light and his lip worked gently between his teeth before releasing a beath. Dex pressed his head on Nursey’s collarbone and just listened to him breathe for a while. Was still achingly hard and had a hand full of cum he wasn’t sure to do with. Possibly going to have a freak out soon. So he took the moment for what it was and felt settled by Nursey’s satisfaction. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Nursey breathed. Dex felt fingers slide through his hair and he shivered. “So good. Can I?”

“Um. Yeah.” 

“Com ‘ere.” Dex wiggled up to meet Nursey’s lips but ended up gasping when Nursey smoothed over the planes of his stomach down to his crotch. Still in sweats and boxers that were considerably wetter. He let out small puffs of air as Nursey’s hand pushed at the elastic. Dex’s face flamed and he lifted his hips to shove down the cloth. Captured Nursey’s lips again and parted again with a hiss as Derek felt him up. Nothing so intense as a grip. Just feeling. He whined with it and Nursey made a noise in response. “God, Dex,” Nurse groaned. “I can’t get over you.” He thumbed along the underside and Dex’s hips rolled.

“Stop teasing, asshole.”

“Sorry,” Nurse said, not sounding very sorry. “Here.” And then he was taking Dex’s wet hand and curling his fingers around Dex’s and - _oh_. Dex thought he might have made a noise, but his brain short-circuited and was only aware of the slick and hot between his thighs. Nurse set the pace, quick and effective, and Dex clung onto him because it was all he could do not to beg. “Jesus, Will.” And then Nursey was bending over him and sucking below his ear and Dex’s back arched. He didn’t even have it in him to give a warning. He let out a broken moan.

When the wave receded, his fingers creaked with how hard he was gripping Derek’s shoulder. “Sorry,” he croaked. “Sorry.” He tried to calm his breathing. 

“Hey, don’t apologize,” Nursey whispered, all calm and sweet as he was. “You’re so fucking hot, Dex.” A kiss was planted on his temple from where his face was hidden in a pillow. “I’m gonna grab some tissues.” 

“Okay.”

The heat of Nurse’s receded and Dex tried not to move. His stomach was vaguely wet and cooling quickly. He tried to catch his breath.

“Here,” Nursey said, and tilted up to wipe Dex down. “Dex? You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He dug his fingers at the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes and tried to catch his breath. “Fuck. Sorry. I swear I’m not normally.”

“Hey, hey. It’s okay, Will. Do you want some water or something?”

“Yeah.”

Nursey pulled his hand away from his face and took his shoulder, guiding him to a sitting position. “Here. Just, it’s okay.” He handed him his water bottle and Will took a few sips, swallowing down the tightness of his throat. The coolness spread through his chest. Nursey put on his boxers and grabbed some clean clothes from Dex’s draws and handed them to him. “Put these on.” Dex wiggled out of his dirty clothes and threw them in the hamper from the bed. Quickly slung the boxers over his hips, feeling horribly exposed. 

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Sorry, I really don’t know what that was.”

Nursey cupped his chin and when Dex looked up, Nursey was as far away from a chirp as he’d ever seen him. “It’s fine. I’ve been there, trust me. It’s alright.” Green eyes searched his face with the gentle arch of a smile. 

Dex nodded. He wasn’t used to being so easily comforted. He handed the water bottle back to Nursey who put it on the ground beside him. Turned back to Will with a shy smile. “Cuddles? My bed?”

He took stock of his sheets. Took stock of warm clean clothes, the sweetness of Nursey’s skin, the pale shade of his eyes. “Why does my bed get wrecked and your bed get cuddles?”

Nursey smiled and they shuffled off Dex’s bed together, crossed the floor with quiet footsteps, and fell into high-quality sheets. Dex was saved from having to initiate the contact by Nursey curling up into him, and they both sighed. “Was that alright?” Nursey asked.

“Yeah. It was. Really nice.”

“Good.”

He toyed with Nrusey’s hair. Tried to form his words in the quiet space. Looked up at a handmade tapestry. “That thing that you did? The, um.” _God_. “The neck thing?”

Nursey traced his collarbone with his fingertips. “Yeah?”

“It was, um. How did you even?” He wasn’t sure what he was trying to ask. 

“What?” Nursery whispered. 

“It was nice. Too.”

“Nice?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah.”

He lay his thumb in the hollow of his throat. “It was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” Nursery confessed quietly. Dex didn’t know whether to smile or to be mortified. 

“Did you know what you were doing?” 

“Maybe.” The sly motherfucker.

“Nursey. Did you just. Seduce me?”

Nursey crackled. “Do you feel seduced?”

“I feel like.” He closed his eyes. “That I’ve been wanting that for a while now.”

“Me too.” This time, Dex did smile. A pause. “I didn’t know that you were, or that you liked guys.”

“Oh. I don't really have, like, a label on it yet. I was just trying to, um, take it as it goes? I talked to Shitty about it a little bit,” he said quietly. “He told me to just take it at my own pace.”

“Yeah, for sure.”

Dex closed his eyes. Tried not to think about what this meant for him and Nurse, or him and his family, or the team dynamic, or what would happen if they had a falling out and one of them had to move out. Or worse, they couldn’t and their shared room was no longer a safe place. What would happen when he wanted Nursey to meet his parents. If Nursey would ever want to meet his parents, and god, he was thinking about Nursey meeting his parents and all they’d done was give each other some shitty handjobs. Christ, what was wrong with him. 

“I can hear you overthinking.”

“I’m not.”

Derek sat up on his elbows to look at him. Dex met the challenge. “Hey,” he said, all quiet and fluffy. The sharp chirp in Dex’s mouth got tangled. “We can make the rules as we go. It doesn’t have to be a scary thing.”

“I’m not scared.”

Nursey smiled. “Stressful, then. It doesn’t have to be a stressful thing. We can do whatever we want. Go as fast or as slow as we want. It’ll be okay.”

“What if we want different things?”

“Well. What do you want?”

Dex looked over the flop of Nursey’s curls. The way his eyes flicked around over Dex’s freckles and how his fingers rubbed along his wrist. Sometimes he’d wanted for so long that was now in his arms and how he was constantly fucking things up. Saying the wrong things. Messing up their relationship and overreacting. “I don’t want to fuck this up,” he said quietly. 

“Noted. But that’s not really answering the question.”

“I want.” He huffed. Nursey always making him _say things_. Wringing the answers out of him that he was too wary to say the first time. “I want to. Be with you. And do things. And like.” He shook his head. He was getting ahead of himself. “I just want you in my life. I like you a lot, Nursey. Guess you caught on.”

Nursey pressed a kiss to his mouth, and it was so new and still so unexpected, Dex flushed with it. Wasn’t sure he’d ever stop. “Well, I liked you first.”

“Doubtful.”

Nurse tilted his chin up and kissed him on the nose, and Dex thought of Bambi when a butterfly landed on him and he went cross-eyed and opened with wonder. That’s how Nursey was to Dex. Made him feel full of wonder. Wonderful. There was an English major in him yet. 

“Well. I want to be with you too. And I want to be in your life. So there. We’re already on the same page.”

“And telling the team? Or like, being public?”

“I want to. I want people to know you’re mine. And I’m yours.”

“Oh.” He’d never really thought of it like that. Like he was with Nursey through it all, and not just him and Nursey ruling parallel but never intersecting. 

“Do you not want that?”

“No. I mean yes. I think so. I don’t care, I guess. I just know I like you and if that’s what you want then, that’s what I want.” And he found that he meant it. “Maybe no family stuff yet though?”

“Sure. Of course.”

Dex nodded. Sighed. That was. Easy. It was easy with Nursey. He made Dex’s life infinitely more complicated, and they were laying in the same bed together after he gave Dex an orgasm that literally brought him close to tears, and everything just felt so easy. Even when they were yelling at each other and Dex was being bitchy and Nursey was acting like a pretentious asshole. He pressed a kiss to Nursey’s head just because he could. 

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you think! Also, if there are any typos. Thanks!


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